Author: Re-Farmer

How things are going

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Today is working out to be a rather pleasant day, overall. We’ve got bright sunshine and – as I’m writing this – there doesn’t seem to be much wind.

Unlike this morning!

I got the morning rounds done which, today, included shoveling out the space we back the truck into to load it up for the dump.

We got a fair bit of snow last night, though it was very light and fluffy and easy to shovel – and clear off the solar panels for the kibble and water shelter lights! We’re going to need to break little Spewie out to clear the driveway, but not today. We’ll be getting winds off and on today, while tomorrow is supposed to be much more pleasant. We’re supposed to reach a high of -11C/12F this afternoon, but the -16C/3F low of the day is supposed to happen around 7pm this evening, and then it’s supposed to keep warming up overnight until a high of -4C/25F tomorrow, and a high of 0C/32F on Monday!

I am so looking forward to the warmer temperatures!

Along with some shoveling to make room for the truck by the house, I also checked the ejector. The septic pump didn’t turn on during the night, but by the time I heard it running this morning, it was off before I got into the basement to check it. With my theory that gunk from inside the short lengths of pipe between the filter cannister and the back valve got loose and is now stuck in the back vale, I tried an experiment last night. I’d picked up some Dawn Platinum dish detergent to keep in the basement, for when I put in a clean filter basket and need to wash the spare. When I topped up the filter last night, I squirted in some detergent, first, then topped up the water before closing it up. I figured, with the filter draining like it does, it’ll take the detergent with it, and that would help clean out the pipe lengths and back valve the next time the pump turned on.

When I checked the ejector, I could see that water had splashed out for quite some distance, since the area was no longer covered in snow. Beyond how far the water is ejected, it flows down the metal sheet that diverts the flow towards the low area, and that section is completely covered in snow with a water tunnel under it. The snow and ice gives a good indication of how well the ejector is working.

Once I finished my rounds, I backed the truck up to the house and started loading it with garbage while my daughter checked the house and changed whatever garbage cans looked like they needed it, before helping me get the rest of the garbage and recycling out of the old kitchen.

The good thing about the old kitchen not being heated and not having much insulation: the garbage freezes in the winter, and there is no smell! Very important, since we go to the dump more more infrequently in the winter.

Once the truck was loaded (and clear of cats!), I headed out to the dump. The highway was covered in packed snow, with blowing snow buffeting me, so I was definitely taking my time for the drive! Another wintertime bonus: the area in front of the pit is covered in packed snow, so I’m less concerned about driving over something sharp enough to puncture a tire. 🫤

When I got back, my daughter had a couple of bags for the burn pile waiting outside the door, so I added those to the pile. With the warmer weather coming up, we should be able to finally burn that pile of mostly diseased branches, and do the burnable garbage, too. Our burn barrel has finally fallen apart, and the burn ring is full of ashes, so we can’t use either until we can clean those out in the spring or summer.

Not long after I was back, I got a phone call about my brother to talk about the septic pump. After talking about various possible causes throughout the system, we basically came down to the same conclusion: something is stuck in the back valve again, and the only way that could have happened is if there was something in the pipe between the filter cannister and the back valve that came loose. Especially since it was working so well at first. My brother had checked the back valve thoroughly, and it was in excellent condition. As for the pipe that attaches to it, it’s an elbow that is directly attached to the back valve, and he knew that elbow was clear. There’s about 6 inches of pipe between elbows, then another 8 inches or so from that pipe to the filter cannister’s outflow. Not a lot of distance for gunk to build up, but if that rag managed to take however many years it did, to work its way through that little bit of pipe and get stuck in the valve, it’s hard to say what else could have gotten stuck in there that we couldn’t see in between those elbows.

I told my brother what I’d done with the detergent, and he agreed that this might help. The alternative is to take it all apart again, and he wants to avoid that. The more things get taken apart, the more likely something will break. We’re keeping an eye on it, it’s still working, even if it does need to have the filter primed to get it going sometimes. My daughter was in the shower while were were talking, so I went to the basement to see if the pump would turn on, but it didn’t. The tank had been emptied too recently for one shower to trigger the pill switch again. As we were talking, though, I noticed something about the level of the water in the filter.

It was pretty much exactly level with the top of the pump, which is where the back valve is. The back valve is pretty much level with the inflow opening in the filter cannister – at least it is, now that I have something under the cannister to support its weight – and the water level almost completely covers it. So it looks like the water level is equalizing with the height of the valve.

I do wish I’d known more about the pump before all this started. Particularly about the back valve and where it was. Chances are, I would have made the connection with the back valve having problems, much earlier – and possibly gotten it fixed before the ejector froze solid!

Ah, well. Live and learn!

After I got off the phone with my brother, and my daughter was done her shower, I went back down to tend to the filter. I got my daughter to go with me so I could update her and show her what I was doing with the detergent, and what we hoped it would accomplish.

If the detergent doesn’t seem to be helping, I might want to just add some of the Free Flow powder to the filter before topping it up with warm water, instead of cold. While we still use the Free Flow enzymes and bacteria down the drains regularly, those are great for the plumbing and the septic tank, but doesn’t do much for that little section of pipe between the filter and the pump.

All of this stuff, we are extra careful to be sure it won’t damage the pipes or mess with our septic system. That’s something we just never had to think really about when living in the city!

So that is where were at with the septic issues. Now that we finally got the dump run done, we don’t need to go anywhere for some time. With the weather warming up, that means we can catch up with things in an around the house again!

I am just itching to be able to work outside again!

The Re-Farmer

A much more effective shop, plus updates

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Yesterday, while in a much larger town, I did a bit of grocery stopping. Just a few things to tide us over until we do our first big stock up shop in the city next week. The grocery store I went to has a really good inventory, and I would have loved to get more, but everything was too expensive.

What I forgot to do was bring our water jugs for refilling, so I needed to do that today. Being a much warmer day, I called my mother to see if she needed any errands done, or if she were up to going to the bank.

Thanks go her Meals on Wheels three times a week, her groceries stretch quite a lot further, so all she needed was milk. The only other thing she wanted were some croissants to go with her tea. She discovered croissants only recently and just loves them, and sometimes the grocery store in her town has some excellent prices on them.

So I decided I would get my water refills at her local grocery store, then maybe pick up the sandwich meats they have that are prices better than I’ve seen anywhere else, including the city, on top of my mother’s two items. She was getting her Meals on Wheels today, so I was going to pick up my own lunch of fried chicken at the gas station before going to her place.

Once at the grocery store, I had time to spare before I knew the gas station’s fried chicken would be ready, so I took my time and looked around.

What a difference from yesterday! This grocery store not only had better regular prices, but there were sale prices that were just awesome. Where, yesterday, I didn’t get the extras I would have wanted to, today I got extras I never expected to pick up!

I didn’t get a chance to get a photo before everything was packed up, so here’s just a picture of the reciept.

From the top, the first item is a jar of sliced pickles for sandwiches. The Dawn Ultra is for our basement, to clean the septic pump’s filter basket.

The “bakery reduced” is three bags of croissants for my mother, that cost only $1.75 each. This is even better than Superstore in the city, where they have clamshells of croissants available for $5, which is a great price, but far fewer croissants for the price compared to the tree bags I got. The 2L of milk was hers, too.

The boneless pork was one of the amazing sale prices; you can see on the receipt that the sale price discounted over $17 – more than half price for a very good sized roast! It was the thing with the fresh chicken legs and thighs. I ended up getting two packages of those. If I’d had the budget for it, I would have gotten more!

I got around 500 grams each of the sliced deli meats; the maple ham was a touch under, while the two chicken breasts were a touch over. That is their regular price, which is about $2/100g lower than most places.

The instant pudding was a spur of the moment thing. Four boxes for $5 is a really excellent price, as you can see by the amount discounted. While I just got a flat of 30 eggs yesterday, when I saw that the 18’s of house brand eggs were priced lower than a dozen, I just had to grab one. We can never have too many eggs! The rye breads are regular price; the same brand and price that we get at Walmart.

The water refills were the one thing that is more expensive, both the new caps and the water itself.

So of all this, $9.44 was for my mother. Which means that, of the $106.60 total, after taxes, we paid only $97.16 for our own stuff.

Which was a heck of a lot more than what we paid almost $130 for, yesterday! Particularly since I ended up getting so much meat on this trip!

After I finished the shopping, making sure to bag my mother’s stuff separately, I had time to spare before I would go to the gas station to pick up some fried chicken and wedges for lunch, so I went to a small department store to see what they had. I remembered there were a couple of things my mother wanted from there. One was a candle, for when she says her prayers. The other were slipper socks of some kind. Her feet get cold at night, so she wanted something she could sleep with. I actually found both, though I’m not sure if the slipper socks will work for her. They are supposed to be one size fits all, but my mother has massive bunions, and that might be a problem. We shall see.

I still had extra time, so I parked at the gas station and messaged with my brother for a bit. When I did my morning rounds, I checked the ejector, as he asked, but the pump hadn’t gone off during the night, so there was just fresh snow in front of it. I did feel the heat tape and it was warm, so that’s still working. Before I left home, I made sure to top up the filter on the septic pump and asked my family to keep an ear out for it, as it would probably go off while someone was taking a shower.

After updating my brother on things, I went inside, only to find all the chafing dishes were completely empty. Not even the potato wedges or deep fried perogies and pizza pops that get cooked first were there.

It turns out their frier was on the fritz. The food was being cooked, but it would be a while before anything would be ready.

Thankfully, they had a bank machine, so I took some cash out and went to the Chinese restaurant next to my mother. They are cash only. It’s been a few months since I’ve gotten anything there, so I was far from unhappy with having to change plans.

From there, I finally went to my mother’s. Today was warm enough that I didn’t need to worry about my groceries and the water jugs freezing in the truck cab.

Since I was able to get what my mother needed along with my own stuff, after we had lunch, I did other errands for her. It was her day to do laundry, so I changed her bedding for her, which was enough to make two loads for her. Once those were started, I did some light housework for her, and all those little things that she now finds difficult to do. The one unusual thing was trying to figure out why her TV wasn’t working After trying various things, it just kept reverting to a message saying to check the network connections. I checked everything I could think of before I finally took a picture of the message on the screen and sent it to my brother; he bought her this TV and did all the setting up, so he knows it a lot better than I do. A quick message back from him, and I found the setting that my mother somehow accidentally turned off. She has a habit of button mashing her remote control when things don’t work the way she expects, but when things go wrong, she has no idea what she did that caused it!

All in all, we were able to have a pretty good visit today, which is really unusual for the length of time that I was there. I really appreciate days like today. No personal attacks. No attacks on my family. Only mild attempts to attack my brother that I could easily address. No racist rants or bizarrely conflated topics she likes to rage about, even though she has no idea that she’s talking about completely different things. She still can’t figure out why she’s getting fundraising mail from a political party she is no longer a member of. I’ve told her, she’s on a mailing list and would need to ask to be removed. She things that “the government” (meaning, the federal government) is spending all this money to mail things out using taxpayer dollars. I’ve tried to explain to her that party mail is paid for by party members and party donations. They cannot use federal funds for stuff like this. I can tell she simply does not understand what I’m trying to explain.

One thing she did bring up is that she is noticing her own cognitive decline. She’s still convinced that she is dying, and told me she’s feeling all sort of pains, but it’s different now. How is it different? All she could do was vaguely gesture at her chest and stomach. She just doesn’t have the vocabulary, or understanding of anatomy, to explain what she is feeling and where. Aside from that, though, she’s finding it harder to remember words she uses regularly.

She’s still doing pretty darn good for being 93 years old! She does acknowledge that and is grateful for it. But she does need to be in assisted living of some kind!

At least she does live in town, and has home care coming in three times a day for medical assist with her prescriptions. The help she needs, though, home care out here cannot provide, nor can my siblings and I.

So we do the best we can. In the end, my mother really is doing amazingly well to still be living independently! I would not be at all surprised if she outlives us all. 😄

Anyhow.

Once done at my mothers, I got home while it was still light out (I am SO loving the longer days!). After the truck was unloaded, I made sure to check the ejector. The pump had gone off while my daughter was showering, and I could see by the melted splash area that the ejector still has a decent amount of pressure behind it.

On checking the pump, I saw the water level in the filter was getting low, so I topped it up again. After putting the lid back on, I could see air bubbling in from the intake opening as it started to drain. It has to be the back valve again. I took some video of the bubbling and updated my brother about it. He’s not saying much but, knowing him, he’ll probably find a way to come out this weekend to look at it again.

Tomorrow, though, we have to do a much needed trip to the dump, since we didn’t do it during our recent deep freeze. The dump is open longer hours on Saturdays, and I hope to get that done as early as possible. We’re supposed to be colder tomorrow, but nothing extreme. For the next while, it’s going to feel like spring!

I’m quite looking forward to it.

The Re-Farmer

Not quite done yet

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*sigh*

It started again.

After my brother discovered the rag stuck in the back valve on the septic pump, he made sure to give the valve a once over. It was in good working condition – once it was no longer filled with cloth! – so everything was put back together as it was, instead of being replaced with the not-quite-what-he-wanted new parts and pieces he’d found, after much running around in the city.

Once it was all together, the pump was working great again. It now runs so quietly, I can barely hear it when I’m sitting at my computer, which is pretty much directly above it. The filter, now that the pump was working right, actually filled more than we can fill it when we prime it, with water completely filling the dome shaped cover.

With all the troubles we’ve been having, I’ve been paranoid about it, and frequently go down to check when I hear the pump running.

Which is why I was there to notice that something had changed.

The water level in the filter was dropping, ever so slowly.

Each time the pump ran, instead of filling completely, there was space in the dome, and when it stopped, the level would be a little bit lower than before.

At one point, while watching it until the pump stopped, I saw it was low enough that I decided to prime the filter again. Once I filled the filter with water and closed it up again, I saw air bubbles coming in from the inflow opening and watched the level go down. !!! I filled it again and saw the bubbles again, but the water level stayed high enough to completely cover the inflow opening.

I told my brother about it, thinking maybe we need a new O ring after all, though it did seem well sealed when I opened it to prime the filter. As we messaged each other back and forth, he said that with the filter, there’s no way another rag or large object could be blocking the back valve again. He suggested I see how it’s flowing out of the ejector and compare it to the video he’d taken when we first got it going again. The problem with that is, even though the pump takes longer to empty the tank now that it’s pumping the fluid all the way out to the ejector, in the time it would take me to bundle up and walk over there, the pump would be done emptying the tank. The alternative would be for me to play with the bypass wires on the switch and have someone turn it on manually, after I’ve already gone out to the pump, and I really don’t want to do that!

Today, after we finished our running around, I was at my computer when I heard the pump start running while my husband was in the shower.

Which is when I heard that too familiar vibrating sort of noise.

I went down stairs to check. In the filter, I could see that it was mostly drained. There was inflow, but it wasn’t enough to fill even the bottom half of the filter while the pump was running.

I stopped the pump, primed the filter, then turned the pump on again.

The filter immediately drained, but there was no inflow anymore.

!!!

Priming process repeated. Pump turned on again.

This time, while it did drain quickly again, there was enough inflow that the water level reached high enough to cover the inflow opening, but that was about it. It never completely filled. I kept watching until it stopped, and even took some video to send to my brother.

While my brother is right that there is no way something large could get through the filter and block the back valve again, something occurred to me.

When we discovered the rag stuck in the back valve and my brother cleaned that out, neither of us thought to check the pipe from the filter to the valve. There’s a short length from the filter, which was still attached to the filter, then a short pipe with an elbow at each end that joined that filter outflow pipe to the back valve. That section with the two elbows was what my brother was originally going to replace with a new brass back valve, removing the one in the pump completely. What he hadn’t been able to find was the part he wanted that would attach to the pump where the original back valve is. The closest he could find was a steel piece, which would eventually corrode, but absolutely no one had the threaded piece he needed in plastic. So he was quite happy to be able to put the original parts back on again, which meant he could also return the parts and pieces he’d bought but never used.

So while it’s possible there might be something going on at the ejector, I think it’s the back valve again. I think it’s more likely that some sort of crud inside the pipe came loose, now that the water was flowing full power again, and instead of being washed away, got stuck in the valve.

Now, in theory, I could take that section off myself and check it. The problem is, I really don’t have the right tools for the job – my brother had to use his heat gun to warm up the plastic so he could get it apart, then put it back together again, for starters.

At this point, all we can really do it keep monitoring it. If it really is just a piece of crud that came lose and got stuck in the valve, it might just eventually get washed away.

Whatever the cause is, it’s very frustrating. It was working so well, then suddenly this is happening again!

At least, with the heat tape on the ejector, we know that shouldn’t freeze up again! The pump running with low flow again could potentially cause that to happen.

*sigh*

I was really hoping we were finally done with the septic system problems!

The Re-Farmer

A quick shop: This is $128???

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So, today didn’t quite work out as planned, but close!

With the time for my daughter’s doctor’s appointment being when it was, we decided we would leave very early so that we could run some errands first, then she would have her appointment, and we would be heading back early enough to pick up parcels at the post office before it closed. We planned to leave by noon, or after the prescription delivery came in. The new delivery driver is a bus driver, too, and he does the deliveries in the morning after he parks his bus for the school day. Usually, that means he gets to our place in the late morning.

Usually.

When it was past noon and we hadn’t heard from him yet (he calls in advance, so we can open the gate, or meet him at the gate), I called the pharmacy to make sure the delivery was still happening. It was. He just had a lot of deliveries today.

My husband was having another really bad pain day, so there was no way he could meet the driver outside, and my older daughter was in bed for the day, having finished her work night at about 5:30am. By 1:00, though, we couldn’t wait any longer. My younger daughter and I had to head out, leaving the gate open for the delivery driver.

I later got a message that the driver arrived almost half an hour after my daughter and I started heading out.

Our first stop was at the feed store for a 40 pound bag of kibble. We weren’t out of feed store kibble, but we did run out of regular kibble, so the inside cats got feed store kibble this morning.

They don’t like it!

Spoiled buggers!

Since the feed store is so close to the gas station we usually pick up from fried chicken for lunch at, we could have gone there. The medical clinic, however, happens to be near a Subway, so I asked if my daughter wanted to go there, instead. I knew she hadn’t eaten yet today and would be really hungry, but she was willing to wait longer. It’s been ages since she’s been to a Subway.

So that was our next stop. We had enough time for a comfortable sit down lunch before her appointment. We were going to do the grocery shopping part together, before her appointment, but that changed. The grocery store and the clinic are in the same shopping complex, though, so that was convenient. I just went on my own after my daughter checked in at the clinic for her appointment. I didn’t have much on my list, so I took my time to see if there was anything else I thought we might need.

I was really shocked by how more expensive things were. This is a much larger town – almost a city – and closer to the big city than we are, but the prices were higher than even in my mother’s town! I’m hoping this isn’t a reflection on how much everything has gone up everywhere. Our gas prices increased to $1.569/L since the last time I was in town. I had filled the tank and it was $1.499/L then, already an increase from $1.469/L.

Anyhow. This is what $128.24, after taxes, looks like.

That is a very empty cart.

The thing that was actually the best deal were the energy drinks, which were on sale. My daughters requested them, so these are for three people.

Here is what everything cost.

So the Monsters were only $2.50 each, instead of almost $4. I couple of them were for my daughter and I to have for the ride home. Normally, I would have bought them by the case (4pk), which normally costs about $11 when not on sale, even at Walmart. Elsewhere, they’re even higher, but with this sale, buying them in pairs was a better price than buying a 4pk.

The milk and oat milk were the same price as everywhere, since milk prices are controlled. The 30 pack of eggs were more expensive then locally. The celery stalks were a sale price. The block of cheese at $10.49 used to always be about $6.49 before the prices all went crazy during the illegal lockdowns. The cheese and celery were the only things I got that were not on my list.

The rye bread was the lowest price I could find. It wasn’t on sale, but the on sale ones were sold out. I choked at the price for kibble, but we won’t be going to a Walmart or anything like that until we are doing our big stock up shopping, so I got the cheaper 7.26kg bag. They did have 9kg bags, but it was just too expensive.

We don’t normally buy salad dressing, but I’d bought a whole lot of bagged salads last time, but one bunch of them were a salad mix, not a salad kit, so it they didn’t come with their own toppings and dressing packages.

Last of all where the canned drinks. My husband requested Fresca. Every now and then, he has a craving for it. The Coke Zero is for me. Those were both on sale, but their regular price is pretty much the same as everywhere else.

That’s it. Thirty two individual items, but it’s just cat kibble, bread, milk, cheese, eggs, drinks, celery and salad dressing. There were other things I could have picked up, but just couldn’t justify the expense. Like bananas. They were almost $1.50/lb! Usually, the more expensive ones are 99¢/lb, while most places are 79¢/lb There were all sorts of meats on sale, some of which also had stickers with at-the-till price reductions, but even the sale prices were higher than regular prices I have been seeing elsewhere.

I’m rather concerned that when we do our stock up shopping, I’m going to find major price increases all over.

Anyhow.

After I got the shopping done, I loaded up the truck. My daughter had said she would meet me there, but I my list was so short, I knew I would be finished before her. So I went to the pharmacy adjoining the clinic and cashed in a couple of lotto tickets, and ended up getting myself a pair of slipper shoes. I still haven’t found indoor shoes to replace my usual ones, but they’re really starting to fall apart, so I hoped these would be okay. The price was right and, if they didn’t work out, one of my daughters would have a new pair of slippers!

I’m wearing them now. I’m still not sure if they will work out.

After putting stuff away in the truck, I went into the clinic. I couldn’t see my daughter around, so I asked how long since she had been called in.

It turned out she had just been called into the examination room a couple of minutes before, and the doctor hadn’t seen her yet!

So I waited.

Interestingly, talking to my daughter later, she said she could tell I was in the waiting room because she recognized my cough! I have gotten to the point that I barely even notice my chronic cough anymore. It’s just something I do. Like breathing. Which makes sense, since breathing is what seems to trigger the cough. 🫤

After my daughter was done, she had some stuff for the receptionist to scan for her files, and a follow up appointment was made for the end of next month. She also got another PCOS referral, this time for an ultrasound.

From there, we stopped to fill the gas tank (about an eighth of a tank cost $31 and change), then headed home. By the time, we weren’t sure if we would make it to the post office before it closed. Especially when we found ourselves behind a snow plow! Thankfully, there was just enough of a gap in traffic that we could pass, and we got to the post office, just 2 minutes before closing!

One of the packages we got in the mail was a supplement for the cats that’s supposed to help calm them down. Butterscotch, for example, is still a bundle of stress that not only refuses to leave my office/bedroom, but is so anxious about the other cats, she has limited herself to basically 1/4 of the room (which is still a lot of space, really) and won’t use the litter box unless I chase the other cats out and close the door! I’ve learned to recognize when she needs to go by her behavior. Even once the other cats are out, I still have to pick her up and put her down near the litter box. She will then dash in, use is as fast as possible, before running away and back into her corner.

Once we got everything unloaded and put away, I made sure to make cat soup with the supplement. It’s only a small container, though. The does is by weight which, for cats, is the smallest dose recommended. For the amount of cat soup I made, it was probably less than that per cat, but it really comes down to how much they eat. Which means the bigger cats will be eating more of it than the little cats, so I guess it works out. It’ll take a few days, I’m sure, before we can see any difference. If we do, I’ll give more details about the product.

As I write this, I’ve got about a dozen cats sleeping on my bed. I can’t say they’re sleeping because of the calming supplement, though, since that’s pretty much what I usually have on my bed, every day. The main thing will be if we have less fighting between certain cats, or if Finnegan, aka: Dah Boy, stops spraying all over the place. That is definitely a stress response, since he didn’t start doing that until a few years ago, after our indoor population grew to the point it’s at now. We’re all pretty tired of cleaning up after him! If that’s the only benefit we get, it’ll be worth the cost of the stuff!

Meanwhile, we completely forgot to grab water jugs to refill, so I’ll need to head out tomorrow for that. Which reminds me. I need to call my mother and see if she wants me to do her grocery shopping tomorrow. We’re still expected to reach a high of -3C/27F tomorrow, so that would be a good time for it.

For now, however, it’s supper time. My older daughter made us a big batch of cream of potato and bacon soup while we were gone. I can’t wait to have some – it smells amazing!

The Re-Farmer

Warming up, and pretty ladies!

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Well, we did reach our high of -17C/1F today – at about 6-7am. By the time I headed outside to do my morning rounds, it was down to -19C/-2F, which isn’t too bad, except the wind chill was -32C/-26F It was coming from the north- northeast today, so the house acted as a wind break for the most part. I made a point of checking the ejector this morning, where I found myself getting hit by the wind, full blast.

Not fun.

Ejector is fine, though. I checked the heat tape and could feel warmth.

As I write this, it’s just past 5pm, and we’ve cooled down to -20C/-4F, but the wind chill is still -32C/-26F

This afternoon, I made sure to check on the truck, get it running for a while, then hooking up the OBDII to do a scan. The same sensor code is coming up; nothing else, so that’s good.

While letting the engine run and warm up, I took advantage of the sunshine and relative shelter from the wind and shoveled out the paths. We didn’t get a lot of snow, but the winds blew drifts into all the paths, with some not even visible anymore. Just flat snow. The kitties will be much happier, now that they can get around the yard more easily!

Speaking of kitties, check out these beauties.

The first one is the fluffy girl that we can sometimes pet while she is eating. She lost her first litter last year. Unfortunately, she is now in heat. Brussel is being left alone, so I have to assume she’s pregnant, but the boys are all over this one.

This is a really bad time of year for a cat to go into heat. They’d both be having kittens at the end of February or so. Chances of survival are pretty much nil.

I’m really hoping we can catch her, or Brussel, for the spay next week. We’re booked for one male and one female, and I don’t expect to have any problems catching the males. They are far less feral than the ladies.

If you click through to the next photo, you can see another of our fluffy beauties; one of last year’s kittens. Totally feral. No idea if it’s male or female. We have at least one, maybe two, more fluffy ones like that that are completely unsocialized, and won’t go near us. I had to zoom in quite a bit to get that picture!

I had a chance to talk to the Cat Lady today. Yesterday, I’d connected with someone in a feral and stray cat group on FB. I normally am not active on there, after being burned by similar groups in the past. Someone was offering donated cat food, though, so I contacted her. I told her outright that we’ve been having difficult getting help, and only one rescue has been willing to help us. We messaged each other privately, and ended up arranging to connect when I’m in the smaller city, waiting for the spay and neuter to be done. I will be meeting the Cat Lady that day, too.

After, I let the Cat Lady now that I’d connected with someone about possible food donations. Today, she phoned me and asked if it was a particular person by name.

It was the same person.

She then warned me to watch out for her. She says, her heart may be in the right place, but she has… issues. Issues that have resulted in her calling the provincial vet on people she had been “helping”, which then resulted in a whole lot of cats being euthanized instead of TS/NR’d. More alarming is that she has been sending cats out of province with “brokers”. The cats get picked up by people in unmarked white vans, and are never heard from again. She apparently is full convinced that these “brokers” are adopting the cats out to good homes in the other province – a province that is just as overwhelmed with cats as rescues are out here (we’ve lived in that province a couple of times, over the years). The Cat Lady suspects the cats are actually going to a lab, based on her own observations before leaving the big rescue she had been connected with when I first met her.

Basically, she said that if we can get help with cat food, getting cats fixed or getting them adopted, that could be fine, but not to give any personal information, not to say where we live, and especially not to send pictures, as those will get shared all over online without our permission. It’s people like this woman, and the rescues she’s connected with, that have resulted in the Cat Lady backing away from her own rescue, and basically working with just a couple of people like us, and that’s it.

As she was telling me this, I remembered some of her past stories she’d told me, about how and why she left the big rescue. No names were mentioned, so I hadn’t known this person was one of the people she’d had issues with.

Well, we just have to be careful, which I try to be, anyhow.

One of the things that came up was how many cats we’re feeding right now. With how cold it’s been, I haven’t done head counts in a long time. The last time I did, I think I counted about 36, or in that range.

Today was nice enough that I tried to do a head count after doing their evening food and water. I counted “only” 23! That’s a huge drop. I had been seeing as many as 15 crowded into the top of the isolation shelter. Today, I counted 5. Looking into the sun room from the bathroom, I’ve counted as many as 20 that I could see, most bunched together under the heat lamp. Today, I counted 8 in the sun room. The rest that I counted were running around outside.

Twenty three cats is still too many, and I know that there is likely cats that just hadn’t come to the house for food yet, but that’s still a big change.

Well, we’ll see how much they change again, as the weather warms up.

Tomorrow, we’re looking at a high of -15C/5F, which is supposed to happen at about the time my daughter and I will be at her doctor’s appointment. We will take advantage of the trip to pick up a few groceries and some more kibble. Our first stock up shopping trip is a week away, so we won’t be getting much.

Man, I really hope the long range forecast into February is somewhat accurate. I’m now seeing forecasts for highs of 8C/46F!

That is going to be so awesome.

The Re-Farmer

Well, technically, we’re warmer…

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Good grief.

Yeah, the thermometer shows it’s gotten warmer, but we’ve got another bit of a storm happening. The winds are quite as severe as a few days ago, but with more snow.

When I headed out this morning, we were at -26C/-15F, but the wind chill was at -39C/-38F I spent as little time outside as possible! Basically, just give the outside cats non-frozen food (their food trays are filled with frozen kibble) and warm water, and that’s it. I did manage to get a few pictures, including a show of this gorgeous girl.

I want to pet her. I want to brush the mats out of her fur.

I want her to not be pregnant.

I assume she is, as the boys are leaving her alone, now, though when I checked out the bathroom window last night, I saw some shenanigans happening with Midnight and a female I couldn’t make out under him; definitely not a big fluff ball like Brussel. I wasn’t going to even try interrupting them, since that would just scare cats outside into the cold.

As I write this, we have warmed up to -19C/2F with a wind chill of -32C/-25F This time, the wind is coming up from the south at 34km/h21m/h, though we certainly have higher gusts that I can see blowing past my window.

We are supposed to reach a high of -17C/1F I don’t know what time of day they use to determine when the high happens, though, as the temperatures are supposed to continue warming slightly, to reach -15C/5F by about 10pm tonight, and stay there until about 2am, when we’re supposed to cool down. The “high” of tomorrow is supposed to be -19C/2F, but that’s supposed to be at about 5am, and things are supposed to keep cooling down for the rest of the day.

Thursday, at least, we’re supposed to have a high of -15C/5F. I got mixed up and was thinking that’s when we’re taking a couple of cats in for a spay and a neuter, but that’s on the 30th. This Thursday is a follow up doctor’s appointment for my daughter. Her appointment isn’t until 3pm, though, and we’re supposed to get snow again, starting Thursday evening and continuing all through Friday. Friday, however, is supposed to have a high of -3C/27F!! Then, on the 28th, we’re supposed to actually go above freezing!

If the long range forecasts are at all accurate, things should stay pretty mild, with only one or two days below -20C/-4F in February.

I certainly home so.

This polar vortex may have some other negative effects that we won’t know about until spring. While our Liberty apple tree is planted in a sheltered spot, and protected someone with an anti-deer wrap, it’s still a zone 4 fruit tree. These temperatures may have killed it.

Our winter sowing experiment may also be affected. While the sown garden beds did get a thick layer of mulch, they would also have benefited from a thicker layer of snow to insulate them. We just don’t have a lot of snow this year (which is NOT a complaint!). Some seeds, like the onion seeds, I’m sure will survive just fine. Others, I’m not so sure!

Well, we’ll see in the spring. Once things warm up and melt away enough, I’ll remove the mulches. Then we’ll see whether I’m making a mistake by not buying more seeds this year.

Oh, who am I kidding. I am sure there are some seeds out there I will end up buying!

With the cold, the snow and the winds, I am cheering myself up by thinking garden thoughts!

The Re-Farmer

Widespread

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This weather system is really wide ranging!

Everything in red on the above weather map is under extreme cold warnings, defined as “extraordinary threat to life or property.” Orange is “severe”, which is defined as “significant threat to life or property”. Yellow is “moderate”, or “possible threat to life or property.” The few patches of blue are “mild” or “minimal to no known threat to life or property.”

The ongoing weather warning, particularly for the region to the south of us says wind chills could reach from -44C/-47F to -50C/-58F.

As I write this, coming up on noon, we have warmed up to -31C/-24F, with a wind chill of -34C/-29F.

I check the critter cam every now and then, and it amazes me how active the cats are in the sun room. Most, however, are in various groups, snuggled together in cat beds, under the heat lamp, or in the shelf beds at the window. I know others would be taking advantage of the warmth in the top level of the isolation shelter. It’s the ones that are too feral for any of those spaces that concern me. I see some running around on the driveway, the various paths dug out in the snow, or dashing along the sidewalk, to or from the house. They older cats have their thick winter fur, and the long haired cats are giant fluffy balls, rolling through the snow. It’s the littles that concern me, but they seem to know to stay close to the house and near the heat lamps. Still, when they do go out, I can see them doing this little dance with their paws, always having at least one paw raised up out of the snow. I wish they would just stay inside their various shelters!

Ah, well. We do the best we can for them, and just hope they take advantage of the warmth and shelter we provide for them.

I am so done with this cold.

The Re-Farmer

One more day of this

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It has definitely been the worst.

I took this screenshot after coming in from giving the outside cats food and warm water. I did NOTHING else out there this morning!

If you can’t see the Instagram image, we were at -34C/-29F with a wind chill of -46C/-51F at 8:32am. It’s now just past 9am as I write this and, while my phone’s weather app hasn’t changed, the weather on my desktop days we’re at -35C/-31F and the wind chill is at -42C/-44F

The heated water bowl in the sun room was almost completely iced over at the top. The one in the water bowl shelter was heavily frosted over. Only the one in the isolation shelter had no frost on it – it’s still pretty warm with that heat lamp in there! – but the sliding window beside it was so frosted, I struggled to get it open. Somehow, the food bowl ended up knocked down to the bottom level. I wasn’t about to move the box shelter over the entrance to get it, so I found another container to put inside. It’s just a light plastic thing, and will probably get knocked down, too, but it will do for now.

On my local highway conditions group there is someone who posts a picture with road and weather conditions at the start of their commute, every morning. They live to the southeast of us. This morning, they posted at 6:45am, and reported the temperature at -37C/-35F They did not report the wind chill.

Today’s high is supposed to be -27C/-17F. Barely, and only for a brief period, before things start dropping for the night away. Tomorrow?

We’re looking at a high of -17C/1F. On the 23rd, when we are booked to bring a couple of cats in for spay and neuter, we’re expected to have a high of -13C/9F. On Friday, the 24th, the warmest day being forecast at the moment, we’re expecting to reach -6C/21F.

If the forecasts are even half correct, this will be the last bitterly cold day of the winter. After this, things will warm up and any cold periods expected will not be anywhere near this several. In fact, the long range forecast into February has us going as high as 6C/43F in the second week of February!

I’ll believe that, when I see it.

I really feel for anyone who has to commute in this, or work outdoors. This is one time where I’m glad we don’t have any livestock animals! Homesteaders I know are having a real struggle keeping their water from freezing. We simply don’t have what we need to care for animals in conditions like this – which is why we still don’t have chickens.

One more day of this.

The Re-Farmer

Yikes!

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

Good grief, check out that wind chill!

It’s past 11pm as I write this, and we are at -30C/-22F, and the wind chill is at -43C/-45F!

I’ve actually snagged a small heater to use in my bedroom/office, because the furnace just can’t keep up. Especially in my north facing, log walled room with the last drafty window that my mother refused to have replaced when all the others were done, before we moved here.

Time to curl up in bed and stay warm with about a dozen cats or so!

The Re-Farmer

Still working!

/ Re-Farmer / 3 Comments

We have another bitterly cold day today. As I write this, at almost 10:30am, we have warmed up a bit and are now at -28C/-18F with a wind chill of -38C/-36F. The extreme cold warnings we were under just ended, minutes ago.

My daughter accompanied me as I did my morning rounds, just in case I had another fall. We did the short rounds, due to the cold, but I did make sure to check on the ejector.

All is working!

My brother redid the heat tape so that it is now wrapped around the elbow and thoroughly secured with electric tape. We don’t want this thing to freeze again! With the septic pump now working at full flow, thanks to that rag no longer being stuck in the back valve, this should not be a concern anyhow, but water was still filling the stack pipe more than it should. I wasn’t about to undo everything to check it it still was.

As for the icicle hanging off the extender my brother added to the elbow, I broke that off then felt around inside. The ice ended just inside the extender. The heat tape around the elbow was doing its job, and it was clear. The next time the pump goes off, the water will melt away and remaining ice as it blasts by. The water is usually warmer, too, since the bulk of the water that goes into the tank is from hot showers.

The pump itself is back to taking about 5 minutes to empty the tank. Which makes sense. It’s now pumping through about 300+ feet of pipe before hitting the venturi valve, then being pushed up a 3/4 inch discharge pipe.

Oh! I just checked the weather again. The extreme cold warning is back. Wind chills in the range of -40C to -45C (-40F to -49F) are expected, particularly in areas to the south of us. We are somewhat protected by the lake effect where we are.

Another good day to stay inside, as much as possible.

Thank God none of us have to commute anywhere.

The Re-Farmer